3477 
 
 Gibson 
 Conscience
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 FREDERIC THOMAS BLANCHARD 
 ENDOWMENT FUND 

 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL I
 
 ' *s / P 
 
 L?t* 
 
 CONSCIENCE 
 
 POETICAL ESSAY, 
 
 By WILLIAM GIBSON, M. A. 
 
 O F 
 
 PEMBROKE HALL, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE, 
 
 Printed by J. ARCHDEACON Printer to the U NIVERS I T Y; 
 
 For J. WOODYER, in Cambridge; and fold by J. BEECROFT, Paternofter-Row, 
 
 J.DODSLEY, Pail-Mall, and T. CADELL, the Strand, inLodon; 
 
 D. PRINCE, at Oxford; and W. CHASE, at Norwich* 
 
 M.DCC.LXXII,
 
 3+77 
 
 A Claufe of Mr. SEATON's Will, 
 Dated Ofl. 8. 1738. 
 
 T Give my Kijlingbury Eftate to the Univerfity of Cambridge for 
 ever: the Rents of which Jhall be difptfed of yearly by the Vice- 
 Chancellor for the time being, as he the Vice-Chancellor ; the Majler 
 of Clare Hall, and the Greek ProfeJJor for the time being, or any 
 two of them Jhall agree. Wliich three perfons aforefaid Jhall give 
 out a SubjecJ, which SubjecJ flail for the Jirjl Tear be one or other 
 of the Perfections or Attributes of the Supreme Being, and Jo the 
 fucceeding Tears, till the SubjecJ is exhaujled-, and afterwards the 
 Subject Jhall be either Death, Judgement, Heaven, Hell, Purity of 
 Heart, &c. or whatever elfe may be judged by the Vice-Chancellor , 
 Majler of Clare Hall, and Greek Profejfbr, to be moft conducive to 
 the honour of the Supreme Being and recommendationvf Virtue. And 
 they flail yearly difpofe of the Rent of the above Eftate to that Majler 
 of Arts, whofe Poem on the SubjecJ given Jhall be bejl approved by 
 them. Which Poem I ordain to be always in Englifl, and to be 
 printed', the expence of which Jhall be deduced out of the product of 
 the Eftate, and the rejidue given as a reward for the Compofer of the 
 Poem, or Ode, or Copy of Verfes. 
 
 WE the underwritten do aflign Mr. SEATON's Reward 
 to W I LLI AM G I B S O N, M. A. for his Poem on 
 onfcience, and do direft the faid Poem to be printed according 
 to the Tenor of the Will. 
 
 y. Brown, Vice-Chancellor. 
 
 P. S. Goddard, Matter of Clare Hall. 
 
 y. Lambert y Greek Profeflbr. 
 
 858561
 
 CONSCIENCE: 
 
 A 
 
 POETICAL ESSAY. 
 
 SILENCE, to thee, beft nurfe of ferious thought ! 
 From Courts, from Camps, and bufy Fa&ion's din, 
 From Trade's throng'd walks, and Pleafure's gay parade 
 Thy Vot'rift gladly turns. - O! thither lead, 
 Where far fequefter'd from the frequent haunts 
 Of men, thou lov'ft in fecret cell to live 
 With Solitude thy fifter : there with you, 
 All abfent elfe, along the pathlefs wood 
 Oft let me devious range; or by the brink 
 Of fame lone fountain laid, from morn to eve, 
 In Meditation pafs the peaceful day 
 
 A In
 
 f 2 ) 
 
 In Meditation, fuch as to the Mind 
 Opes her own ftores exhauftlefs ; and unfolds 
 Pow'rs fo diftincr, fo wonderful, and vail, 
 As -loudly fpeak her origin divine. 
 But chiefly on thy myftic properties, 
 CONSCIENCE! in folemn mufmg let me fit, 
 Till the flame kindle in my raptur'd breaft, 
 And from my tongue unwonted numbers glide. 
 
 NOR in fuch hour, thou watchful Sentinel ! 
 Unfeen of mortal eye that ftand'ft aloof 
 Lift'ning the bufy Mind, attentive flill 
 To all her various workings, and on leaves 
 Firmer than flint, with filent ftroke and deep, 
 Graving each fecret thought : Nor in fuch hour, 
 "With the dread outcry of remember'd 111, 
 Difturb the flowing {train j for Thee which flows 
 In artlefs meafures, haply fuch as thefe 
 
 PAST was the reign of Chaos, and of Night j 
 The groves of Eden bloom'd ; and Man arofe 
 
 Lord of the rich Domain of form erect, 
 
 Comely, majeftic; and with Paflions fraught 
 Warning to fhun, or prompting to purfue 
 
 The
 
 ( 3 ) 
 
 The painful, or the pleafing. High o'er thefc, 
 A band rebellious, Reafon fat fupreme, 
 Skill'd to collecl:, arrange, compare, combine 
 Ideas, as they rife ; and thence infer 
 The fitnels, or the turpitude of things. 
 
 YET left too pow'rful Paflions flbould propel 
 Headlong to ac~ls immoral, nor alfow 
 Time for flow Reafon to deduce a rule 
 To curb their mad career 3 CONSCIENCE kind Heav'n 
 Appointed her a (Tiftant j CONSCIENCE quick 
 To heed the call of Duty, to difcern 
 'Twixt right and wrong, and bias to the befh 
 
 ON Man, -to fuch a Monitor confign'd, 
 How rlrft advanc'd Iniquity ? how firft 
 Stole in Corruption? flept the Sentry then, 
 To ^hom his God had left him ? Ah ! not fo 
 She fail'd her mighty truft$ but wide awake, 
 And thrill'd with horror for an act, might plunge 
 Each unborn Age. in everlafting woe, 
 Ev'n when his trembling hand was ftretch'd to take 
 The fair forbidden fruit, . defift, She cried, 
 Defift, and fin not! fpeechlefs he and pale 
 
 A 2 Awhile
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 Awhile flood falt'ring, till by Eve beguil'd, 
 Rebel to CONSCIENCE he did take and eat, 
 
 THERE perifh'd Innocence; an injury there 
 CONSCIENCE fuftain'd of dire event to Man! 
 Weaken'd fhe rofe, and feebler from her fall 
 With feebler efforts from the human heart 
 Repell'd infurgent Vice j till by degrees 
 Her voice was fcarcely heard; till Abel's blood 
 Cried from the ground, and God condemn'd the world. 
 Since when, with feeming unconcern, fhe oft 
 Sees her prime laws infring'd; and oft obferves 
 Reafon's frail bark by boift'rous Paflions driv'n 
 Far from its courfe, nor bids the itorm be Hill. 
 
 YE ! who abftrac"led from fuch common cares 
 As catch the Vulgar: Ye! who leave alike 
 Folly's fantaftic train, and Comus' crew 
 Unwifely mirthful, to their midnight glees, 
 By the pale lamp to ply your fludious toil 
 In fome lone chamber, till the fhrilling cock 
 Warn of approaching day, ye beft can tell, 
 Vers'd in the hoary regifters of Time, 
 Each ancient ill invading hence the world. 
 
 Not
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
 Not Ifrael's race, the chofen charge of heav'n ; 
 Nor Aaron's felf their leader, and their prieft; 
 Nor JefTe's Son, whom God approv'd, and took 
 From tending on the wade the teeming ewes 
 To rule his own cleft, untainted Tcap'd, 
 
 IF, CONSCIENCE! quickly from thy ruins rofe 
 Evils like thefe, o'er-fhadowing ev'ry plant 
 Pleafing to heav'n, or good for mortal man; 
 And in an age too when the Will divine 
 By Prophets oft, and oft by Signs was fhewn : 
 Lefs wonder if, fuch warnings heard no more, 
 Succeeding ages deeper funk in fin ; 
 Lefs wonder, if Philofophy in vain 
 EfTay'd with friendly, tho' with feeble hand, 
 To raife fall'n Virtue, and reflore thy fway* 
 
 O ! what a lift might ancient Greece, or Rome, 
 Ev'n when Refinement threw her brighteft rays 
 Around their rival ftates ; and Wifdom's voice 
 Oft by their favour'd Sons along the banks 
 Of cool IlifTus, and the green retreats 
 Of Tufculum was heard, afford of names 
 Odious to Virtue flill but why recur 
 
 To
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 To periods flown or wake remembrance up 
 
 Of long-forgotten guih, when modern times 
 
 By Heav'n's own light illum'd, and taught to aim 
 
 At nobler ends than ancient ages knew, 
 
 Teem with furpaffing -crimes > when ev'ry ill 
 
 Which hell gave birth to, and the bad adopt, 
 
 Thrives in our ftreets, and taints the paffing gale. 
 
 Lo ! where regardlefs of her plighted vows, 
 
 Her hufband's peace, her hoary parent's pang, 
 
 Her infant's future fame, in the broad fun 
 
 The bold Adultrefs hades to meet her fhame. 
 
 Leagu'd with Injuftice, lo ! where Av'rice burfts 
 
 Through ev'ry moral tie ; and grafping frill 
 
 At treafures not her own, from pole to pole 
 
 Braves the hoarfe billow, and defies the ftorm 
 
 Not Afric's fatal heats, nor fcorpion brood, 
 
 Nor howling defarts can protect her Sons 
 
 From Rapine See ! on Guinea's glowing coafts 
 
 She pours her greedy legions j to their woods, 
 
 Their rocks, their caves the frighted Ethiops flee 
 
 Swift, but in vain thence ftruggling torn, behold ! 
 
 Far from their friends, their babes, their frantic wives, 
 
 From ev'ry fond connexion of the foul, 
 
 To dwell with Darknefs in the central mine, 
 
 And
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 And bear the iron flripes of men more fell 
 Than all the monfters of their native wilds, 
 
 She drags them fome difdainful of her chains 
 
 Rufli refolute on death; lefs defp'rate fome, 
 Not lefs determin'd, fcorn the proffer 'd food, 
 In tears diflblve, and figh their fouls away. 
 See ! too the Fiend, o'er Afia's wafted plains, 
 
 Array 'd in terrors, hideous Jftalks along 
 
 From Ganges' hallow'd flream with hafty (hide 
 
 Turns the feared Pilgrim, he whofe pious care 
 
 Hither his fainting dying Sire had borne 
 
 To heave his lafl breath on its facred fide, 
 
 And in its waves be walh'd of ev'ry ftain 
 
 Whence are his fears ? fee ! where the reeking flood, 
 
 In cryftal eddies curling once along, 
 
 Now glows with human blood, the blood of thofe, 
 
 His kindred haply, who to fave the Land 
 
 From lawlefs. Spoilers bravely fighting fell. 
 
 Still as he flies he cafts a lingering look 
 
 To PlafTey's purple field, and fobbing cries 
 
 Ye Sons of Albion ! madly who exchange 
 
 ' Cool temp'rate airs for India's fultry gales 
 
 In fearch of gold, may ev'ry ill, which gold 
 
 * Gendecs fo plenteous, vex your fordid Ifle 
 
 'Fad
 
 ( 8 ) 
 
 < Fafl by your Sea-beat fhores may Matrons Jit, 
 1 Watching thofe fails they ne'er (hall fee again 3' 
 ' While thronging Widows, to your chalky cliffs 
 ' Lament their abfent Lords, on yonder plain 
 
 * Who glut the vulture, and manure the foil 
 
 * May Luxury unnerve, and Difcord tear 
 
 ' Your weaken'd ftate, and Fa<5tion threat the throne, 
 
 * Till, no more patient of increafing crimes, 
 
 c Heav'n from your hands refume the regal Rod, 
 
 * And bid fome diftant Colony be Queen.' 
 Nor were his vows in vain, the Pow'r who favv 
 His bleeding heart, with pity faw, and faid, 
 
 * None but thy laft petition be delay'd/ 
 
 i 
 
 THE SE,CON SCIENCE! are the crimes, and more than thefe, 
 Which from thy fall o'er all the peopled earth, 
 Flow far and wide ; as o'er the Belgic plains, 
 Its bound'ries broken, flows the Ocean's tide. 
 
 YET dread ye Guilty 1 dread the coming hour, 
 When like a Lion with his noon-tide fleep 
 Refrelh'd, and rulhing furftms from his lair, 
 CONSCIENCE (hall roufe her; when no more content 
 Silent to lit whhin, or whilper low 
 
 Her
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 Her dilates, through the foul her flern rebukes 
 
 Loud (he (hall thunder, terrible, and fierce. 
 
 Yes ! as the Plund'rer with his prey returns, 
 
 The ewe-lamb ravifh'd from the poor man's bread, 
 
 The orphan's portion, and the widow's mite, 
 
 Thou on the way (halt meet him meet him then, 
 
 When lead expefted, and when welcome leaft 
 
 From thy upbraidings to convivial crowds, 
 
 To dulcet meafures, and enliv'ning draughts 
 
 Of gen'rous nectar 'tis in vain he flies j 
 
 Still (halt thou haunt him at the genial board, 
 
 Still like the night-bird fcream amid the fong, 
 
 And daih thy bitt'reft poifons in his bowl-. 
 
 Nor (halt thou fail when Darknefs. o'er the world 
 
 Draws her dun robej and not a found is heard,. 
 
 Save of the beating (how'r, or hollow guft,. 
 
 That groans around the roof, then paufing (inks, 
 
 And groans again anon j or the due beat 
 
 Of fome (low-fweeping Pendulum, which marks, 
 
 The momentary march of Death on man ; 
 
 Nor (halt thou fail with fudden-flafh to fling 
 
 The Ruffian's curtains back appall'd he flarts,. 
 
 And glares upon the gloom j till as the Moon 
 Gleams through the.filver crevice of a cloud, 
 
 B
 
 A thoufand hagard Forms, at Fancy's call, 
 
 Rife round his bed, and fweep along the floor, 
 
 And (hew their yawning wounds, and yell their wrongs. 
 
 BUT chiefly then, when Sicknefs plants her thorns 
 Beneath his pillow, and in toflings wild 
 From fide to fide he feeks repofe in vain ; 
 When the World's boafted pleafures to his view 
 Grow lefs, and lefs, and lefs, and the tir'd Soul 
 Forth-peering from her crumbling cottage fpies 
 Another fhore of being after death, 
 Then chiefly (halt thou fpring to due revenge ; 
 Arm'd with the mem'ry of each pracTis'd crime, 
 Or ev'n in thought projected, then alarm 
 The flumb'ring legions of Remorfe, urge on 
 Defpair's fell band, and harrow up his foul. 
 
 THEN too to vengeance horrible arous'd, 
 And clad in tenfold fiercenefs (halt thou fland 
 Befide the Atheift's bed; by his who oft 
 With wit profane, and poignant blafphemy, 
 And fpecious (how of argument hath fcoff'd 
 Each awful truth, and ridicul'd his God. 
 Not the pale Trav'lkr on the fleeting fands 
 
 Of
 
 (f ) 
 
 Of Araby, who marks the fallen fhades 
 
 Of night defcend, and hears the whirlwind howl, 
 
 And all the famifh'd foreft roar around, 
 
 Feels what he feels 3 no nor Prometheus' felf 
 
 Raving and fhiv'ring on the frofty ridge 
 
 Of Caucafus, as fabling bards have fung, 
 
 While vengeful Furies (hake their fcorpion whips 
 
 Shrieking aloud, and gory Vultures tear 
 
 His bleeding entrails, growing to be torn. 
 
 NOR gently, CONSCIENCE! fhall thy chidings fall> 
 When of omitted duties to the mind 
 Thy lift lies fpread in burning characters 
 Where firft fhall fland fuch charitable deeds 
 
 As never were perform'd the hours, the days> 
 
 The months, the years, for noblefl ufe defign'd, 
 In dull inaction loft the talents, given 
 Alike to blefs their owner and mankind, 
 Left unemploy'd, ufelefs alike to both. 
 
 TIMELY be wife then, Ye who carelefs drive 
 With Paflion's rapid ftream j or fondly feek 
 Felicity by other paths than thofe 
 Prefcrib'd by CONSCIENCE, timely then be wife ! 
 
 Still
 
 Still as alluring profpe&s win you on 
 
 To faults from errors, and from faults to crimes, 
 
 Heed well your fteps, and hear her whifper'd laws -^- 
 
 So ever and anon around your hearts 
 
 Such joys ferene (hall fpring, and pleafures play, 
 
 As for the gold, and glifl'ring gems of Ind, 
 
 Grandeur's rkh robe, the unfading wreath of Fame, 
 
 Or boundlefs Empire, were unwifely fold 
 
 So through a world, where many a net is fpread 
 
 For Virtue's foot, and harlot Vice awaits 
 
 To tempt th' unwary Pafienger aftray, 
 
 Still fhall ye fafely pafs fo unappall'd, 
 
 And fmiling at the dart of Death, defcend, 
 
 By Hope attended, to the filent grave.
 
 University of California 
 
 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 
 
 Return this material to the library 
 
 from which it was borrowed. 
 
 RECTD LI 
 
 teen 
 
 OTO 
 
 m 
 
 1990 
 
 LIBRARY 
 r OF CALIFORNIA 
 ANGELES
 
 .PAMPHLET BINDER 
 
 ^^^ Syracuse, N. Y, 
 Stockton, Calif. 
 
 PR 
 3U77 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONA